Management educators in practice: to be critical or not to be critical, that is the question

Abstract

The field of management education has been the focus of much debate in recent times regarding the relevancy of its content and process. How we define relevance has implications for all stakeholders of management. As a result, how applicable are the alternative approaches to management education such as critical management education (CME). This research explores how criticality is perceived, experienced, and translated into the everyday practices of critical management educators. The research found that there was a common theme about criticality relating to questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about management and its practices. However, distinctions were made between those whose interests were more theoretically, politically, or practically oriented. From the findings, two critical educator types emerged. These were the critical experientialists and the critical traditionalists. This research provides an understanding of the critical classroom through educator perceptions and practices. In doing so, it enlightens the management educator further as to what it means to be critical.